Private Message Viewer Mods?
- Thread starter Myers
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I do have that on my website, but It's disabled. Disabled since I don't have allot of members.
The reasons why for it in points
-Advertisement
-Talking about what is wrong like other members or terrorist attacks
-private work or work stolen
-other bad things.
So keep that in mind that there is an reason of why sites have to have them with there rules. I also see the wrong that admins also doesn't need to see or read what is right by them but wrong by the staff.
I received a warning point on another website some three or more years ago for talking to another guy about advertisement, so yeah
The reasons why for it in points
-Advertisement
-Talking about what is wrong like other members or terrorist attacks
-private work or work stolen
-other bad things.
So keep that in mind that there is an reason of why sites have to have them with there rules. I also see the wrong that admins also doesn't need to see or read what is right by them but wrong by the staff.
I received a warning point on another website some three or more years ago for talking to another guy about advertisement, so yeah
Legally?
all IPS have that option, so does that answer you
I already know that. 😛
so it's you that posted and have two accounts,
lol wut? Back on topic. 😛
Legally? You have every right to view someone's private message as long you own the site and and the hosting on it. Ethically, it could wrong depending on how you see it.
I have an extension that allows me to view private messages in case I need to view them, but I'm not sitting there stalking what's being sent. It's called being safe and planning ahead. You probably won't ever need that tool, but if you do, well, at least you'll have it.
....what on earth does that have to do with the topic at hand, Empire? For reals.
Nothing that concerns you 🙂 Moving on
I don't have an extension on my forums to do that, but I think it is worth noting that even though you are sending a private message, the content of your exchange is still being accumulated in the database and if the admin has a reason to dig into it, they can easily find such information.
Some forum owners will handle this kind of extensions/digging better than others, so it is important that we keep an eye on what we send and in which communities, for something delicate or personal, it is way better to handle it through an instant messenger or somewhere else external to the community.
I learned of this ability many years ago, when I discovered in some admins public web-journal some logs of a private conversation I had with a friend I had invited. It was the scariest thing as the owner actually went through the trouble of translating our conversation to English when we switched it to Spanish after a few exchanges. We weren't misbehaving but we were talking about her first impressions and the weak spots of the community. I never imagined the owner would be scouring PMs and much less to have it out in the open on a LiveJournal kind of blog. This is not really something very likely to happen to you, but I think it was worth mentioning it here.
As you can imagine, it is the same reason that now as an admin I have no interest in messing with other people's correspondence even if they are using my platform. Unfortunately in order to protect the same people, if there was a problem for which we are required to check a private exchange, I'd do it on a need-to-know basis. Just the involved PMs and context. There is also the fact that my community niche nor size doesn't really call for it.
Other communities like promotion orientated might need a mod like this to make sure no one is trying to sneakily advertise, traffic reputation or other suspicious activity. Also, bigger forums are more likely to have more PM related incidents and these tools might help them get the job more effectively. So the weight, in my opinion, lies more on the moral compass of the user than having the tools or not.
Some forum owners will handle this kind of extensions/digging better than others, so it is important that we keep an eye on what we send and in which communities, for something delicate or personal, it is way better to handle it through an instant messenger or somewhere else external to the community.
I learned of this ability many years ago, when I discovered in some admins public web-journal some logs of a private conversation I had with a friend I had invited. It was the scariest thing as the owner actually went through the trouble of translating our conversation to English when we switched it to Spanish after a few exchanges. We weren't misbehaving but we were talking about her first impressions and the weak spots of the community. I never imagined the owner would be scouring PMs and much less to have it out in the open on a LiveJournal kind of blog. This is not really something very likely to happen to you, but I think it was worth mentioning it here.
As you can imagine, it is the same reason that now as an admin I have no interest in messing with other people's correspondence even if they are using my platform. Unfortunately in order to protect the same people, if there was a problem for which we are required to check a private exchange, I'd do it on a need-to-know basis. Just the involved PMs and context. There is also the fact that my community niche nor size doesn't really call for it.
Other communities like promotion orientated might need a mod like this to make sure no one is trying to sneakily advertise, traffic reputation or other suspicious activity. Also, bigger forums are more likely to have more PM related incidents and these tools might help them get the job more effectively. So the weight, in my opinion, lies more on the moral compass of the user than having the tools or not.
Doing that will make it worse. the admin knows you speak in English them moved to Spanish! that will toggle the admin to think 'what on earth?' and he thinks otherwise and he or she translate it back. Still what you are saying is also wrong for the admin to do by reading and whatnot.
I'm also had that problem once. talking away in a message with some people then next day the message was removed and I had an warning point for advertisement. and they are reading others in the room also and they received also
The thing is this admin knew we were both Mexican and I had a good reputation as far as I know. It was a small Zelda community and it was, in my opinion, just being nosy for the sake of it. All in all, what got me was that the admin never really approached me about that. If I had been told not to speak Spanish even through PM that'd be one thing but having what you think is a normal private exchange to find it on a public blog later on, it's a different thing.
That's bad administration that is
Yeah, the admin was usually pretty nice, so it was surprising. I guess she didn't think things through when venting on her journal. She didn't have it linked to the forums in any way. I just did a random ego-search and it came up with the results. To be fair, I never ever approached that owner either by the time I found said entry and it happened so many years ago.
Regardless, if a user is using something in private I think that is how it should be kept. Even communities discussing problematic PMs do it in areas that are not public, like staff sections or instant messengers. I think it is important to honour the trust deposited by the users and to be upfront with your protocols.
If the administrator told you not to speak in Spanish, it will point out to the fact that he or she is going through your PMs
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